Ashley was more than pissed off about being arrested and thrown into jail,
and couldn't believe that Zac would do something like that to her. She
understood that he was married to kate, and was only doing what he could to
protect his wife. But they had known each other for years. They had a history,
and had been good friends. Je just ruined that though. Now all she wanted was to
get out of town with her kids, and never come back.
No one wanted her around anyway, no matter how hard she tried to be a part of
their lives. They were all just pushing her further away.
When she finally did get out of jail, she asked about getting her son out of
child protection servies, but they told her she would have to go to court and
prove that she could be a good mother. That pissed her off even more, and she
had to take a walk to cool off, to think about everything that was going on.
In the end, she came to the conclusion that she was a bad mother who wasn't
cut out to be one. Her mom had been right. It was all a disaster.
She wrote a short note to Arielle, and stuck it in Zac's mailbox before
taking off. Without even so much as looking back, she left Oklahoma without her
kids.
________________________________________________
About a month passed, and no one ever heard from Ashley again. Arielle was
torn between missing her mom, and yet being glad that she had left. It meant no
more stressful fights, which she was happy about.
Zac and Kate had in fact done everything they could for Christopher, who was
now living with them. He was having a hard time adjusting to the changes, with
his mom now out of the picture. He missed her more than anything, and wished she
would come back for him. On more than one occasion, Arielle had to have a talk
with him about his acting out, as he kept causing trouble.
She was now in her fourth month of her pregnancy, and just starting to show a
bit. The father of her baby was still unknown, and the only way of knowing who
it was, had taken off when she contacted him for a DNA test. But that didn't
stop her from deciding to have the baby.
Natalie and Taylor had finally found a new home, and everyone was helping
them to move in.
" Arielle, can you take this box and take it into the kitchen? Natalie is
starting to unpack so she can fix up some lunch for everyone." Diana held a box
out to her.
" Sure." She took the box, and headed into the kitchen with it. " What are we
having for lunch? I am starving." She asked Natalie, as she set it down.
" I was thinking of something easy, like grilled cheese sandwhiches and
tomato soup. Does that sound okay?" Natalie opened the box up, and started
pulling out pots and pans.
" Sounds great to me." Arielle gave her a little smile. " Thanks for beeing
cool about all this, Natalie. I know it's been hard accepting me in your life,
but you've been pretty great."
" Your welcome." Natalie smiled back. " I think there is one or two more
boxes of kitchen stuff. Can you..."
" Yeah. I'll go grab them." Arielle interrupted her, and walked out of the
room as Zac came in with a box.
" There is one more, then we are just grabbing pretty much anything." He told
her.
" She nodded, and stepped outside. She saw Christopher trying to shoot some
hoops, even with the moving truck and everything in the driveway, instead of
helping. With a roll of her eyes, she caught the ball when he missed the basket
and looked at him. " We are not playing around right now, Christopher. There is
plenty more you can do to help."
" I don't want to help. I want to play some basketball." He complained.
" Well, I don't care what you want. The more you help, the sooner we can get
done. Now stop playing and grab something." She told him, setting the ball down
and grabbing the last box of kitchen stuff from the moving truck.
Diana was in the truck, grabbing a box of stuff herself. She turned to look
at her, and smiled. " I think you are going to be a great mother, Arielle. I can
already tell."
" I don't know about that. Christopher barely listens to me." Arielle watched
him grab only a bag full of cook books, and go into the house with it. " i'm
worried about him, grandma. " She looked back at her with a sigh.
" He is just struggling because your mom left him behind, honey. He will be
okay though."
" I hope so." She went back into the house with the last box of kitchen
stuff, passing by her dad as he came out to grab something more.
_________________________________________________________
Once they were finished helping his brother move into his new home, Zac and
kate took their kids and Christopher clothes shopping. It was mostly Junia who
needed new stuff, but they decided to get a few things for the other two as
well. It wasn't easy however when it came to Christopher.
" I don't want to try on new clothes. I just want a new video game. That is
all I need!" Christopher looked at them impaitently, unwilling to move from his
spot.
" Well, that is not what we are here at the mall for. We came to get new
clothes only." Kate told him. " Now take these into the dressing room,
and..."
" No!" He interrupted her. " I don't even like what you picked out for
me."
Zac gave Christopher a look. " Then pick a few things out for yourself. But
stop talking back to Kate right now. I mean it."
Christopher stomped away from them, and looked through a rack of shirts. Kate
watched him, and put an arm around Zac. " This is inane. Ashley should be here.
We should not have to care for him ourselves. This is her son."
Zac kissed her cheek. " I agree. But she gave up her right to him when she
walked away."
" What are we going to do with him? He is getting hard to control." She
looked up at her husband.
" We need to find Ashley and get her back here. Because he is driving me
insane." Zac watched as Christopher grabbed a shirt off the rack.
Kate nodded and noticed their own son running towards a couple with their own
kids. She picked him on up, and kissed his cheek. " You are staying right here
with us." She tickled him, and he giggled.